Issues & Answers – Perry County Tourism
The March 6, 2024 edition of the Perry County Tribune offered Perry County candidates for public office an opportunity to answer six questions. Candidates were asked to limit their answers to 150 words. I complied with those restrictions to the letter. However, with my website, I have the opportunity to provide you with more in-depth responses if you wish to read them. Here is my full answer to question number six…
With the county apparently moving toward becoming more of a tourist destination, is there anything the commissioners should be doing to help prepare for a possible increase in visitors?
I will speak on what I have done. In 2018 I re-wrote the Perry County Lodging (Bed) tax resolution, and it was adopted by the Board of Commissioners September 13, 2018. As part of that update the Commissioners also began spending the Lodging tax appropriately as defined by the Ohio Revised Code. In 2022 we created the Perry County Visitors Bureau, and the DiscoverPerryCounty.com web site and appointed Angela McCord as administrator. Our Visitors Bureau promotes businesses, food, lodging and events throughout Perry County.
Perry County will continue to develop as the gateway to Appalachia and the Hocking Hills. As we promote tourism, we must first promote our local businesses that provide tourist destinations. Some say that outdoor recreation, destination planning, food and beverage is the future of Perry County. We are not, and never will be, an industrial region. Rather than trying to redefine what we are, we must promote our strengths. Our strengths, such as our people, local businesses, farms, producers of vegetables and livestock and the natural beauty that makes Perry County.
A “tourist destination” is a city town or other area that is significantly dependent on revenues from tourism. If Perry County is to become a tourist destination then we need to promote and assist those businesses that are dependent upon that tourism. Moving forward the board of commissioners needs to actively continue to promote the tourism industry in Perry County. My work in improving the lodging tax and creating the visitors Bureau is just the beginning.
Promoting and participating in local farm markets is also an important outlet for local producers to be able to reach customers and ad yet another component to the county as a tourist destination. Currently there are Farm Markets organized and operating in Shawnee, New Lexington and Somerset.
The Perry County Commissioners were successful in obtaining a $132,000 healthy aging grant. One component of that grant is to provide $75 in farm market coupons to Seniors to use as local farm markets. The demand for those coupons was greater than any other time. And was impossible to predict that response. We will see if we can redefine the grant budget and provide additional coupons.
Perry County also has a Park District that is governed by an independent Park Board. Prior to my service as Perry County Commissioner the Park Board had a budget of zero, I was part of the first commission to appropriate any money to the Park District and that appropriation has been growing since. In 2024 the Commissioners appropriated the Park Board $15,000 for their operating budget. Their mission is to promote tourism and outdoor recreation.
